Alma Latina (Spanish: “Latin Soul”) has been playing and singing Latin American music for the past twenty years in theatres and museums as a musical act forming part of a varied programme, on special occasions (opening of exhibitions) and at conferences or other such occasions, both at home and abroad.The instrument that most strikes the eye in Alma Latina is the Paraguayan harp.From the sixteenth century onwards the Spanish harps spread over the South American continent, giving rise to such instruments as the Paraguayan harp. This hand-made, wooden instrument weighs only 11 lbs.It has 36 diatonically-tuned nylon strings and has no pedals or similar such mechanism for changing key. The latter presupposes a talent for improvisation on the part of the harpist in order to be a good performer. The Paraguayan harp has a clearer ring to it than that of the concert harp and you play it using your finger nails.The harp is Paraguay’s national instrument.

Mayra de Haas (harp, vocals)Mayra was born in Aruba and whilst still very young performed on Dutch West Indies’ radio and television, singing and playing the guitar, the accordeon and the piano.Not until she went to live in The Netherlands did she take up study of the Paraguayan harp. One of her teachers was the famous Paraguayan harpist Digno García who played in the trio Los Paraguayos, widely renowned in the 1950’s.

Fred de Haas (guitar, vocals)Fred taught Spanish and French in The Netherlands and the Dutch West Indies. He translated and published the works of authors such as the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, the Argentinian writer Jorge Luís Borges and of Spanish, West Indian and French authors.From the age of 15 he has played Latin American music and performed in many trios.He studied and performed Latin American music during his travels through South America and during his many years in the Dutch West Indies.

Gerrit van Ommering (various string and percussion instruments)Gerrit has been playing Latin American music since 1973, performing in groups like the former Conjunto Yaraví. With the Conjunto Yaraví he also performed for radio and television in Peru and Bolivia.In Alma Latina he plays the guitarrón (a Mexican bass guitar), the charango (the mandolin style string instrument so typical of the Andes region), the cuatro ( a small 4-string guitar, widely used in Venezuela and Colombia), the guitar, the bombo (a drum with a goatskin drumhead, mainly used in the Andes region) and a variety of other rhythm instruments.

Ingrid Nicodem (flute, percussion) Ingrid studied the classical flute at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. She studied Latin-American rythms with a variety of specialists in the field of Latin-American music. She has been performing with Alma Latina for a number of years now.